Book 8
3.7
It was between the outlets of the Peneius and the Sellëeis, near the Scollium,Scollis Mountain (see 8. 3. 10); now Santameriotiko. that Pylus was situated; not the city of Nestor, but another Pylus which has nothing in common with the Alpheius, nor with the Pamisus (or Amathus, if we should call it that). Yet there are some who do violence to Homer’s words, seeking to win for themselves the fame and noble lineage of Nestor; for, since history mentions three Pyluses in the Peloponnesus (as is stated in this verse: “There is a Pylus in front of Pylus; yea, and there is still another Pylus,”Anon.)A proverb. See Stephanus Byz. s.v. Κορυφάσιον, and Eustathius ad Od. 1.93 the Pylus in question, the Lepreatic Pylus in Triphylia and Pisatis, and a third, the Messenian Pylus near Coryphasium,Gosselin identifies Coryphasium with the Navarino of today. So Frazer, note on Paus. 4.36.1 the inhabitants of each try to show that the Pylus in their own country is “emathoëis”The Homeric epithet of Pylus, translated “sandy”; but see 8. 3. 14. and declare that it is the native place of Nestor. However, most of the more recent writers, both historians and poets, say that Nestor was a Messenian, thus adding their support to the Pylus which has been preserved down to their own times. But the writers who follow the words of Homer more closely say that the Pylus of Nestor is the Pylus through whose territory the Alpheius flows. And the Alpheius flows through Pisatis and Triphylia. However, the writers from Coele Elis have not only supported their own Pylus with a similar zeal, but have also attached to it tokens of recognition,As mothers who exposed their infants hung tokens about their necks, hoping that thus their parentage would be discovered. pointing out a place called Gerenus, a river called Geron, and another river called Geranius, and then confidently asserting that Homer’s epithet for Nestor, “Gerenian,” was derived from these. But the Messenians have done the selfsame thing, and their argument appears at least more plausible; for they say that their own Gerena is better known, and that it was once a populous place. Such, then, is the present state of affairs as regards Coele Elis.
